In which cults take shape

A few months ago I grabbed a product called Game of Shields from drag-n-drop games which was a "system" to run factions.  Great idea.  Easy to implement.  But had a couple "rules" that made it virtually unimplementable in real life.

So I was a little reluctant to take on another similar product but then I stumbled across Gods, Cults and religions made by Stefano Scordo contact: worldofhyr@gmail.com.  My table is currently in a struggle between two cults whose "ideals" aren't well defined, nor did they NEED to be.  

The stated purpose of this product is to simulate the story of a cult starting from its origins.  With a series of simple ideas, you will be able to decide its evolution over time, to create a cult and see if it survives the course of history or if it is destined to disappear.  It uses a simple deck of 52 cards to provide the randomness and leaves a lot of basic decisions up to you, like dogmas, organization and structure, symbols, art, architecture, rites and practices.

Took me about 20 minutes to design the two cults in question and move them through a few developments which can then be used to motivate and direct them through the flow of this adventure - and beyond if needed.

This small pdf isn't for everyone but I really like the crunch.  It adds some nice flavor easily and helps maintain that verisimilitude that my table appreciates.  No more bland people in gray/black/red robes burning candles around a pentagram for no other apparent reason than that they they're evil.  GOOD cults exist too, y'know.

In which we Enjoy the Funnel cakes!

 It went well.  Settled on the Crypt of Endless Agony (#681 from Elven Tower.)  Did a quick introduction of the characters.  Players started getting vested.  Then they entered the dungeon, encountered a ghoul and the slaughter began.  Shoulda been a two-round win but John kept rolling single digit attacks so it was an early bloodbath.  Set the tone.  

The players then settled in, absorbed the stats, possessions and prior occupation.  Range weapons were used as were makeshift range weapons (apples?!)  Some traps detected, some not.  Turning undead attempted - and failed spectacularly.  Slowly but surely the players did what they do best - gelled as a team.  And the BBG was vanquished and the dungeon was escaped and much coin and treasure was carted out.

Many (several?) fun stories were recounted and then the serious work of character creation began.  Roll 6d6 in order.  1-3 give +1 to the ability, 4-6 gives +2.  I also allowed players to swap one high for a low.  Also kept the requirement that an exceptional total must exist for at least two stats, with one being at least 15 and the other being at least 16. It’s enough if a player has one gifted stat, a minimum of 17, instead. Kris's charlatan had some crappy numbers but we bumped the two highest to meet the standard and she was good to go.  

John is already well on his way with Jutorious Bottomflagon his half orc wizard.  Kris's former charlatan is leaning toward rogue and I'm thinking would make a good Mastermind.  Charles?  Leaning toward druid or may take cleric.  Either way he'll be an asset to the party.  Not much muscle here but a lot of everything else.  I've run John through the background generator and it's provided several interesting backstory questions.  He had a fraternal twin die at 6.  How?  He has advantage vs poison.  Why?  He was given two potions.  One healing.  The other is his choice, as is who gave it to him and why.  He was "assigned" his three cantrips but selected one in the funnel.  His spellbook also has Magic Missile and he'll select the other one.  Will be interesting to see how he interacts with Dakora.  

Equipment?  Basic needs, PLUS the stuff picked up in the funnel, PLUS a 3d6 die roll here.

A nice inscription in the spell book - a gift from his mentor (provided by ChatGPS).  And John's well on his way.  I use my mechanics to make a good fit.  John gets a crap-ton of choices and meaningful questions to direct his backstory.  One down.  Two to go!

In which we partake of Funnel Cakes!

 

Party is about to be all 5th level at which point they have some options.  They may retire the character completely (making them a major NPC in the area, settling down and still giving the character some limited involvement,) kill them off completely, or roll another character to be a follower (and a fallback if the more advanced character dies.)  Been running a version of this the last few years and the party seems to enjoy it.  They even started talking about it when they hit 4th, knowing it was around the corner.

In the past we simply rolled the character up as usual and introduced them via story lines and plot hooks.  Gonna try something different this time, with full buy-in from the party.  A funnel, as popularized (?) by the good folks at Goodman Games who gave us Dungeon Crawl Classics, with some additional bells and whistles.  I've spent the last few days reading available professional products and trying my hand at developing one or two.  Still not sure which I'll use but it's gotta be GOOD because I want it to be a hit.  

Going to use HanClinto's generator to crank out 25 or so PCs.  I'll have 3-4 players and am thinking 4-5 PC's per.  Should have a few left over to fill in as needed.  Looking fwd to my players getting creative with the limited inventory provided.  Also using an optional rule from Ten Red Crows to allow PC's with INT or WIS of 15 or greater to gain the ability to cast the Uninitiated Magic cantrip.  Because the characters are at level 0, the spell attack modifier will be only the ability score modifier to which the
magic is tied: no proficiency bonus is allowed.  They can create a small glowing bolt of energy and hurl it at their enemies. Make a ranged spell attack. On a hit they'll do 1d4 force damage.

AFTER the funnel the player will take one of their survivors and promote them to a Level 1 character.  They'll roll 1d6 for each ability and increase that ability by either 1 (1-3) or 2 (4-6.)  Skills, proficiencies, languages and equipment will be determined similar to our initial character build.  Giving serious consideration to using these tables to see what happens.  Since I'll be doing this away from table I can probably experiment to see which give us what I think is the best build.  Hopefully the players will rely on the funnel to lean into their backstories.

As an aside I have an interesting plan for introducing the noobs to the party.  I'll post if it works.

In which we get dressed

 OK, y'all know I like some picky grit (grit pickin'?) in my game.  And weather.  And economics.  And that my econ system is being reworked.  So I finally got around to updating my textiles, cloth and clothing production.  Alexis has over a dozen posts on clothing (sadly no longer with comments, some of which were quite helpful.)  And I had begun the task of meshing the clothes and weather systems but several steps remained undone.

No longer.

Weather.  Every population area has a weather system based on latitude, altitude and biome.  This spits out a daily temp range, precipitation, condition and wind speed.  The temp ranges are broken into 10 degree steps and each "step" has a clothing "requirement."

Clothing.  The two prime concerns are thickness and weight.  It takes about 4.5 pounds of material to provide basic coverage.  Every 1.5 pounds provides an additional 10 degrees of "warmth."  When it's pleasant the 4.5 mark is sufficient.  As it gets warmer or colder the party needs to increase/decrease what they're wearing.

An outfit of common clothes (homespun hemp) weighs in at 4.6 pounds and covers the basics.  Traveling clothes are made of linen which is not as heavy material but is made thicker, so 10 pounds which means it's good down another 35 degrees!  Wool socks.  Great hooded cloak.  Mittens.  Now you're getting down below freezing.   It's late spring though and heat is getting to be a factor.  Common clothes.  But even then a failed CON save can result in exhaustion, and that adds up.  And wearing ARMOR while traipsing around the countryside just adds to the problem!  Leather armor adds 8# right off the bat!  

So now part of my session prep will include evaluation clothing/armor worn as it relates to upcoming weather so I can advise the party of the choices they'll need to make.   And choices make the game!

In Which We Cobble Together a Frankenventure

 Here then, with links to almost all the tools used, I how I assembled the parties current little decampment.  A few months back they observed that there wasn't enough going on during overland travel.  "Aside from the two caravans a day you met and allowed to roll placidly on by?  How many plot hooks you think each of 'em was carryin'?"

But they did have a bit of a point.  My random encounter tables weren't enough to support the massive undertaking.  So let's go the hexcrawl route.  Fill those random hexes with temples and caves and mysteries.  So I turned to the good folks at Infinium Game Studio and their Hexcrawl Toolkit.  Allowed me to quickly populate the area surrounding the journey.  Done with step 1.

So I ended up with, among other things, a small settlement thorp north of the next settlement.  The BASE of the current campaign is 700 Lordly Houses from Worldspinner.   Every populated area is under the control of SOME lordly house and I'd already plopped House Willow into the thorp.  It has a couple built in story lines but nothing I wanted to activate just yet. The larger area is run by House Ferrante who control most of the iron production in the region.  Seems like they'd be in conflict.  So much for Step 2.

Next we dial up ChatGPT. A handful of prompts later and we had a mystical hill topped by a temple over which the two families fight.  These then are the ChatGPT results I capitalized on:  "Atop the hill, a shrine dedicated to a deity associated with craftsmanship and cosmic balance stands as a testament to the hill's significance. Both families lay claim to the shrine, each interpreting its significance differently. The Ironhearts see the deity as a protector of their craft, while the Stellarglades believe the deity's presence embodies the cosmic harmony they venerate.  Artifacts of Unity: The shrine holds a set of artifacts that, when reunited, have the power to mend the rift between the families and restore the hill's harmony.  My imagination then created the Anvil of Unity, the Heart of Iron (exactly what it sounds like) and the Willow Nexus (a marble representation of a willow tree.)  Step 3 completed.

Didn't wanna make this TOO hard.  The Lady of House Willow entreated the party to locate and return the two missing artifacts.  A visit to the temple revealed clues.  The phrase "as below, so above" was linked to the Heart of Iron, and the willow was linked to The Eternal Garden", about whom the party had heard rumors (quite simply as filler conversation at a tavern.)  Elven Tower had recently released Corvinus Family Crypt.  Change the name, shove that puppy under the temple, give the Heart of Iron to the BBG.  Voila.  Half done!  And this is as far as has been played.  I DID use the Underclock to decent effect.  The Shadowing Event hit a VERY good time for the narrative but the actual encounter turned out to be a tad ... anticlimactic.  Not every one can be a home run.

The party spent the rest of the day at the temple in a driving rain.  A short rest for a reasonable recovery.  The PLAN is to go back to Weshesony, do a little research (which will likely consist of asking some randome passer-by what the know about the Eternal Garden) followed by the trip TO the EG.  

The aforementioned Hexcrawl Toolkit suggests using their random dungeon generator to assemble the garden pathways.  Didn't appeal to me.  So I thought I'd turn to a tool that has stood me in good stead on several occasions and lends itself to the concept of this shifting malevolent garden:  Carapace from The Goblin's Henchman.

So I'll put together a RE table, escalating as the party gets closer to the goal.  Modify the rules just a tad, use the Underclock, rolling at each hex ... incorporating ALL of the stuff.  The Willow is at the "center" of the complex, so it's a "get in and get out" as quickly as possible.  The party can find clues to ease their task either in town or within the Garden.  

Once BOTH items are returned to their rightful place in the temple the families negotiate an accord which improves both.  The party is rewarded  with some interesting stuff via The DM Lair which presents a slew of interesting alternatives to the old "gold and magic items" tropes. In this case they've been wanting a way to ease/speed travel.  A pony, 2-wheeled cart and harness are bestowed.  This stuff is worth about 3-400 gp here.  The Ranger can handle the cart and pony.   Six resources?  Seven?  All knit together to make a VERY nice three session adventure.

In Which We Munch on Crunch

 Recently started reading the posts from A Knight at the Opera.  They've had a couple pretty good posts on crunch lately.  Well, not lately.  This one was back in 2021.  And this one last month.  Both of reasonable length but both good treatments of the topic.  

Y'all know I likes me some crunch.  But I like crunch for a reason.  And I like crunch on MY side of the screen.  Player facing crunch adds to the cognitive load and detracts from overall game play.  So if I add a bit of crunch for the players it's gotta be worth the walk.*  If I can add it to MY work load and it improves the game then I'm usually not even gonna question it.  Players don't usually even hafta know it's there!

And so it is with my newest concoction.  A year or so ago I experimented with The Angry GM's Tension Pool.  It worked OK but we weren't spending enough time crawling for it to matter so it slipped silently into thecloud of good intentions.  Then last month I discovered The Underclock.  And THIS I will implement.  Started last week.  As the party entered the dungeon I meticulously placed a d20 on the map with the "20" facing up.  All action ceased.  Dakora gave me the side-eye and said, quietly, "I hate it when you do stuff like that."  They got it down to 14 before the end of the session.  We'll see how Tuesday night goes.  Don't think I like it for overland travel, nor for urban exploring but it has definitely seemed to sharpen up their attention underground.

Pile this on top of my insanity rules,  spell slot rules and focus vs component rules and the crunch is all easy on the players but adds to the gameplay and decision making.  Do I risk madness to get this spell off?  Do I upcast a spell at the risk of losing it for 24 hours or more?  Do we keep making progress or fall back to that nice spot on the trail that offered the promise of a long rest (which is quite a commodity in our game.)  Cheese that CRunch!

Side story from last session.  Party is trying to elicit help from a local noble.  Their selling point was "we like to travel village to village doing good deeds."  The Lady inquired "what was your last one?"  What followed was about two minutes of backtracking through previous of adventures, NONE of which really involved "good deeds."

*Lengthy aside.  Back when I worked as a summer camp counselor I was usually in charge of our "special programing": opening and closing ceremonies, vespers, flag raising and lowering.  That kind of thing.  I enjoyed finding alternative sights for these.  And our campers usually appreciated the variety IF it made sense.  Had an aide once recommend using a sight that was a 15 minute walk from our home base.  For a five minute ceremony.  I nixed it and said the location had to be "worth the walk."  It had to be worth the half hour of evening rec time the campers would be giving up to get there.  And after that "making it worth the walk" became sort of our mantra.

In which we randomly encounter ... stuff.

 I've never been a fan of so-called "random encounters."  Other people's tables never seemed to fit.  Timing was awkward.  They could be disruptive.  A LOT of that was just my weakness as a DM.  So I limited my usage of them.  I'm finally getting them cleaned up and functional in my wilderness travel to the point where they actually add to the adventure.  But my dungeon crawl "game" isn't there yet.

A few years ago I tried to implement Angry GM's tension pool.  TLDNR:    Take one small
bowl and six d6.  Add a die to the bowl every time the party takes a 'time consuming action.'  When the players do something reckless OR the sixth die goes in, roll the pool. If there's a "1" there's a "complication."  Worked OK.  Players noticed when a d6 got added.  It contributed to the tension.  But I never got the hang of it so it slipped away.

But today I was wowed by a "new" mechanic from Goblin Punch:  The Underclock.  TLDNR:  Set a counter to 20.  Roll a d6 whenever the players "take time."  Reduce the 20 by the amount of the roll.  When it goes below 0: Encounter.  There's more and I think I'm gonna implement it at my table this week to see how it goes.

So here's what provokes a roll:  exploring a new area, passing through 3 explored areas, multiple skill checks in the same area, making noise, and taking a short rest.  If the counter goes BELOW 0: encounter.  If it goes to 0 exactly there's a shadowing event and it resets to 3.  If it lands on 3 exactly there's a shadowing event.  The link about provides a lot of the math.  

Goblin Punch suggests exploding dice on the rolls and increasing the size of the dice after a rest (reflecting increased attention.)  I'm rarely crazy about exploding dice but I like the increasing size thing.  So Imma combine them.  I'll start with a d4.  Roll max amount the there's a step up AND a reroll.  Also an increase after a rest.  

So there it is.  Not sure when this party goes underground again but this gets thrown into the mix at the soonest opportunity.